Technical Abstract:
This letter serves as a response to the Letter to the Editor submitted by Donald R. Davis regarding our research article entitled “Mineral Concentration of Broccoli Florets in Relation to Year of Cultivar Release” published in Crop Science (2011, 51:2721-2727). In our manuscript, we clearly stated our objectives as the following: “(i) evaluate variation in concentrations of Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, P, S, and Zn among the hybrid cultivars tested; (ii) compare our values with current values from the USDA Nutrient Database; and (iii) assess whether there might be a relationship between date of cultivar release and cultivar mineral concentrations.” We analyzed our studies and interpreted our results with those objectives in mind, and we believe that we accomplished those objectives. We stand by the results presented and our interpretations of those results in light of our original objectives.